Kolkata : The probe into the alleged money laundering in the multi-crore Saradha scam has taken a new turn with the Enforcement Directorate on Monday calling renowned actress and award winning film director Aparna Sen and West Bengal Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee for questioning.
According to the sources in the ED, Aparna Sen was the editor of a Bengali magazine Parama, which was owned by Sudipta Sen, the chairman of the Sardha group and the main accused in the Saradha chit fund scam.
The ED officials had given a questionnaire to Sen and wanted to know about various things, including the agreement she had with the group. The questioning, it was felt, would help unravel the money trail in the scam. The ED interrogated her for nearly 30 minutes and recorded her statement under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. However, investigators said it was too early to conclude if Sen was in anyway involved in the scam or not.
This was also for the first time the ED has called a minister of Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet for questioning. West Bengal Textile Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee is under the ED lens as he had sold his loss-making cement factory to Sudipto Sen. He was interrogated for more than two hours.
The ED officials wanted to know from Mukherjee why Sudipto Sen purchased the loss making industry for Rs 4 crore. The minister, however, claimed that he had got only Rs 2.78 crore from Sen.
The officials also wanted to see the bank statement and other documents in connection with the sale of the cement factory. An advocate, who was present during the interrogation in the ED office, said that all the allegations against the minister of illegal dealings were baseless. Talking to the media, Mukherjee rejected allegations that he sold the unit at an inflated price and that Sudipta Sen, now behind bars, was politically coerced to make the onerous deal. “How can somebody be coerced into a business deal? There is no dispute. I came as I got instructions from the ED,” he said.
The ED has already interrogated three Trinamool MPs — Mithun Chakraborty, Srinoy Bose and Arpita Ghosh — for their alleged involvement in the scam.
Apart from Sudipta Sen, a host of company employees, including suspended Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh who headed the group’s media arm, are behind bars.
